This document provides instructions for Acrobat XI. If you're using Acrobat DC, see Acrobat DC Help.

About additional checks and properties

The Preflight tool
includes a collection of additional checks (called rules in previous
versions of Acrobat) that you can add to a profile. These checks
are available from the Custom Checks section
of each profile. You can modify these checks in a variety of ways,
depending on the PDF property they describe. You can also create
single checks that can be quickly run without being part of a profile.
If single checks are run, all flagged content appears in the results
as errors.

Some properties are defined by a simple statement that is either
true or false for a given object in a PDF—for example, “Font is
not embedded” or “Color managed color used.” Some property statements
specify relationships between the actual value of a property (for
example, text size or spot color name) and the value you enter in
the dialog box (for example, “12” or “Deep blue”). Other statements compare
numerical values.

Relationship between property value and
typed value

Relationship between numerical values

Boolean properties

is equal to

is not equal to

is less than

is true

contains

does not contain

is less than or equal to

is not true

begins with

does not begin with

is equal to

ends with

does not end with

is not equal to

is contained in

is not contained in

is greater than

is greater than or equal to

Property groups

The properties for defining a check are
grouped in categories. You can view a list of all property groups
in the Edit Check dialog box. In addition,
you can view the individual properties that make up each group,
as well as an explanation of how the Preflight tool uses the properties.

The
following property groups are available:

Text

Includes
information about how text is rendered, whether it is scaled anamorphically
or slanted, or whether it can be mapped to Unicode and thus copied
or exported correctly.

Font

Describes
all aspects of a font in which text is rendered. Note that text
size is a text property, not a font property, because a font can
be used at many sizes throughout a PDF document. Text size is included
in the Text property group.

Image

Includes image resolution, bit depth,
number of pixels, rendering intent, and more.

Colors

Includes
color characteristics, such as color spaces, alternate color spaces,
patterns, and spot colors. Alternate color spaces enable Acrobat
to display or print certain spot colors and multicomponent spot
colors (DeviceN). For example, to reproduce the color orange on
a monitor or printer, the PDF requires an alternate color space
(made up of RGB or CMYK colors) that defines what the spot color
looks like.

ICC Color Spaces

Includes
properties for accessing the characteristics in the embedded ICC
profiles, which define the ICC color spaces. ICC profiles contain data
for translating device-dependent color to a device-independent color space,
such as Lab. This helps you reproduce color consistently across
different platforms, devices, and ICC-compliant applications (such
as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign). A document that contains
objects in different color spaces (such as RGB, CMYK, and Grayscale)
could have different ICC profiles for calibrating the color for
each color space.

Graphic State Properties For
Fill

Includes graphic state information about how
areas are filled, particularly the color values of the current color
space.

Graphic State Properties For
Stroke

Includes graphic state information about how
lines are drawn, particularly the color values of the current color
space, as well as line-specific properties, such as thickness.

General Graphic State Properties

Includes
settings that control how text, graphics, or images are displayed
in a PDF page. Overprint settings, for example, are included here.

Halftone

Includes
graphic state settings relevant to prepress operations, such as
screen angles, frequencies, and spot shapes.

Page Description

Includes
general information about objects on a PDF page, such as the type
of object (for example, whether it is an image, a piece of text,
or a smooth shade) or whether it is inside or outside the viewable
area of the page, or how far it is from the trim box.

OPI

Includes
properties for analyzing all existing OPI links (comments), whether from
OPI version 1.3 or 2.0. The possible OPI entries in a PDF are the
same as in PostScript files.

Embedded PostScript

Refers
to the PostScript code that can be embedded into the PDF. There
are three properties: one for a PostScript operator used directly
in a page description; one for PostScript code embedded in a PostScript
XObject; and one for an early form of a PostScript XObject,
a PostScript Form XObject.

Object Metadata

Includes
information embedded with the object, such as its creator, resolution,
color space, copyright, and keywords applied to it. For example,
if a Photoshop image with metadata is placed in an InDesign document,
and the document is converted to PDF, this information can be retrieved
and checked by properties in this group.

Annotations

Includes
most characteristics of comments and drawing markups, traps, and
printer marks.

Form Fields

Includes
properties for form fields.

Layers

Checks
for optional content, which sometimes affect the appearance of a
page.

Pages

Includes
page numbers and page sizes that represent the various document
boxes supported by Adobe PDF 1.3 and later
technology (media box, bleed box, trim box, and art box). This group
also includes plate names for PDF pages that belong to a preseparated
PDF.

Document

Includes
all the pieces of information that apply to the PDF as a whole,
such as whether the document is encrypted, contains form fields,
or contains bookmarks.

Document Info

Lists
all the standard entries that can also be accessed by the Document
Info dialog box in Acrobat, and information that has been standardized
by the ISO 15930 standard (PDF/X).

Document Metadata

Includes
information embedded within the document, such as its title, author,
copyright, and keywords applied to it. This information is also
available in the Document Metadata section
of the Document Properties dialog box in
Acrobat. (Choose File > Properties, click the Description tab,
and then click Additional Metadata.)

Signatures

Includes
information about the signatures in the document.

Structured PDF

Includes
several basic properties for the tagging structure in a tagged PDF,
for which the PDF/A standard defines constraints.

Output Intents For PDF/X, PDF/A,
or PDF/E

Defines
which output process the PDF has been prepared for. A PDF intended
for high-resolution printed output typically contains an output
intent with an embedded ICC profile, for use by a proofing device
or a device’s RIP (raster image processor).

Output Intent For PDF/X, PDF/A,
or PDF/E (ICC Profile Properties)

Includes properties for accessing information
from an ICC profile embedded in the output intent. This group includes
the same properties as ICC profiles for objects, such as profile
name and type. The ICC profile describes the output condition of
the device where the document will be imaged.

Efficiency Of PDF Content Stream

Helps determine how efficiently page descriptions
are encoded. For example, it is possible to include the text Hello as a
text operator for the whole word, or as several text operators for
each character in the word. The latter is less efficient and reduces
the speed of page rendering. The efficiency checks return percentages
for several types of operators. A smaller value in most cases is
better than a higher value.

Errors In PDF Syntax

Returns
information about specific errors in the syntax of a PDF. For example,
if certain keys required by the PDF specification are not included,
Acrobat may still be able to render the file. For predictable PDF rendering,
however, it is preferable to encode all PDFs in strict compliance
with the PDF specification.

Errors In Structured PDF

Returns
information about errors in the tag structure of a tagged PDF. For
example, an error is returned if the type of a tagged object is
not properly specified. The properties in this group help identify
errors in tag structure.

Errors In PDF Content Stream

Returns
information about errors in the page descriptions in a PDF. For
example, three number operands are required to define RGB color.
If there are fewer than three operators, it is not possible to render
the page. Properties in this group help determine the reasons why
a PDF page isn’t rendered.

Preflight Edit Profile dialog box
overview (Custom Checks)

The Profiles list
in the Preflight Edit Profile dialog box contains predefined profiles included
with Acrobat, and any custom profiles you’ve created. If you select Custom
Checks, you get more options for selecting and modifying items.
The buttons at the bottom of the column perform basic editing functions,
such as duplicating, removing, and creating. The search box helps
you locate a specific check.

Add checks to a profile

Acrobat includes several predefined preflight
profiles, which you can use as is or modify to create custom profiles.
You can modify a profile that nearly meets your needs by adding
one or more checks that analyze the document using different criteria.
For example, an existing check might detect all text that is not
plain black—that is, text that uses black plus some amount of cyan,
magenta, and yellow. Because this could be a problem when you print
small text, you could modify the check so that it flags text objects
that use more than one color and have a text size equal to or smaller
than 12 points.

You can reuse a check in any profile where
it’s needed. Keep in mind, however, that if you modify a check that’s
being used in multiple profiles, the check is modified in every
profile that uses it. To avoid making unnecessary modifications, rename
the check for a particular profile. Before editing a preflight profile,
you must unlock it.

In the Preflight dialog box, select a profile,
and click the Edit link next to the profile name, or choose Edit
Preflight Profiles from the Options menu.

Choose Unlocked from the pop-up menu at the upper left.

Select Custom Checks from the
list of items displayed under the profile name.

Work with the panels by doing any of the following:

To quickly find a specific check, type
all or part of its name in the search box. Only those items containing
the search term are displayed. Removing the name from the search
box displays all the checks again.

To add a check to the profile, select the check
in the right panel, click the left-facing arrow, and adjust the
alert type, if needed, from the pop-up menu at the lower left of
the dialog box. The alert type, which is Error by default, specifies what
kind of alert the Preflight tool displays if it finds a mismatch.
You can add as many checks as needed.

To remove a check from the profile, select it in
the left panel, and click the right-facing arrow.

Double-click a check to edit it.

Create or modify custom checks

Although
you can modify any unlocked predefined check, it’s best to leave
the predefined checks as they were configured. Instead, you can
create a new check or base a check on an existing one.

Piezīme.

Checks
with locks are in locked profiles and cannot be edited until the
profiles that use the check are all unlocked.

Create a custom check for a profile

In the Profiles panel of the Preflight
dialog box, click the Select Profiles button .

Select a profile and click the Edit button next to the
profile name.

If necessary, choose Unlocked from the pop-up menu.

On the left side of the dialog box, under the profile,
select Custom Checks.

In the Preflight Edit Profile dialog
box, under Custom Checks In This Profile, do one of the following:

In the list of checks, click the New icon .

To base the new check on an existing one, select
a check and click the Duplicate icon .

In the left side of the New/Duplicate Check dialog
box, do any of the following, as needed:

Type the message you want to display when
the check finds a mismatch (fires) and when it doesn’t find a mismatch.
For example, if you’re defining a check against the use of spot
colors, your message when no mismatch is found could be “Document
has no spot colors.”

Type an explanation for the check.

Select the items to apply the check to.

On the right side of the dialog box, select a group,
select a property for the group, and then click Add.

Create a single check

In the Profiles panel of the Preflight
dialog box, click the Select Single Checks button .

Choose Options > Create New Preflight Check.

On the right side of the dialog box, select a group,
select a property for the group, and then click Add.

The new single check appears in the group appropriate to
its group and property.

Duplicate a single check

In the Profiles panel of the Preflight
dialog box, click the Select Single Checks button .